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Getting Started

Environments and URLs​

Otentica has three environments:

  • Development
  • Acceptance
  • Production

Normally acceptance and production are used by clients. Acceptance will be used to test your integration with the API, and once it works, it can be linked up to production.

Acceptance Environment​

  • Recruiter dashboard: demo.otentica.nl/dashboard
  • Professional screening link: demo.otentica.nl/validation/[code]
  • API: api-demo.otentica.nl

Production Environment​

  • Recruiter dashboard: app.otentica.nl/dashboard
  • Professional screening link: app.otentica.nl/validation/[code]
  • API: api.otentica.nl

Authentication​

In order to use the API of Otentica, you need an API key. This API key is linked to a user, and calls made with that API key will be on behalf of this user.

Required Headers​

This API key needs to be provided in the headers of all calls made to the API by your application:

Authorization: Bearer yourapikeyhere
Authorization-Method: api-token

You will get a different key for both acceptance and production.

Example Request​

curl -X GET https://api-demo.otentica.nl/validation-flow/check/[token] \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Authorization-Method: api-token"

Testing with Postman​

Import our OpenAPI specification to get a ready-made Postman collection with authentication already configured.

  1. In Postman, click Import and paste https://docs.otentica.nl/openapi-public.json.
  2. Open the new collection and go to the Variables tab. Check that baseUrl is https://api-demo.otentica.nl (acceptance), and add a variable bearerToken with your API key as its value. The collection's authorization already uses {{bearerToken}}.
  3. Send the request Check connection (GET /status). A 200 response means your connection works.

Every request in the collection already has the header Authorization-Method: api-token, and creating a flow uses the content type application/vnd.otentica.singlecheck.integrated.request+json. When you add requests yourself, set their authorization to Inherit auth from parent and add the Authorization-Method header.

Quick Start Guide​

Step 1: Get Your API Credentials​

Contact Otentica to set up your account and receive:

  • Acceptance environment API key for testing
  • Production environment API key for live usage

Step 2: Test Your Connection​

Test your API key with a simple request:

curl -X GET https://api-demo.otentica.nl/status \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Authorization-Method: api-token"

Step 3: Create Your First Flow​

Create a basic validation flow:

const response = await fetch('https://api-demo.otentica.nl/validation-flow', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Authorization': `Bearer ${API_KEY}`,
    'Authorization-Method': 'api-token',
    'Content-Type': 'application/vnd.otentica.singlecheck.integrated.request+json'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    language: 'ENGLISH',
    firstName: 'John',
    lastName: 'Doe',
    email: 'john.doe@example.com',
    phoneNumber: '+31612345678',
    requestedChecks: [
      {
        checkName: 'identity-data',
        importance: 'SKIPPABLE'
      },
      {
        checkName: 'correspondence-data',
        importance: 'NOT_SKIPPABLE'
      }
    ]
  })
});

const { checkToken } = await response.json();
console.log(`Flow created with token: ${checkToken}`);

Step 4: Monitor Progress​

Poll the API to check the flow status:

const statusResponse = await fetch(
  `https://api-demo.otentica.nl/validation-flow/check/${checkToken}`,
  {
    headers: {
      'Authorization': `Bearer ${API_KEY}`,
      'Authorization-Method': 'api-token'
    }
  }
);

const flowData = await statusResponse.json();
console.log(`Flow status: ${flowData.status}`);

Next Steps​